Month: June 2007

Each week selfless volunteers work together to prepare meals for the mission teams at our camp site. Those serving in the kitchen sometimes feel that their task pails in importance to the skilled teams framing houses, and doing construction. Nothing could be further from the truth. Those serving in the kitchen literally have a hand in every project we accomplish. God uses people with an assortment of abilities, from construction to clean up, from cooking to garbage removal, and everything in between to fit together and get the big picture job moving forward for his glory.

This week, aspiring Chef Ian, from North Carolina directed the kitchen crew in preparing meals. Ian plans to head to culinary school soon. We pray the very best for him and thank God for his heart to serve.

People often ask us about the weather in Lakeshore. Right now, its hot and humid – and promises to get hotter as the summer moves forward. If you plan to come work with us this summer, and we hope you do, remember to take short breaks throughout the day and drink plenty of liquids.

Sunday morning, April 29, 2007, a caravan of vans, trucks, cars, and tool trailers began its journey from the Madison Baptist Association parking lot to its destination of Lakeshore Baptist Church, Lakeshore, Mississippi. The trip had been in the minds of many for more than a year because of the memory of a previous trip there last year. We received such a blessing by building a home addition for a family whose house had been flooded to the rafters and severely damaged by Hurricane Katrina, as well as completing projects for several other homeowners. This return trip held excitement and anticipation to view the progress of the area during the past year as well as the desire to help another family in its effort to move from its FEMA trailer into a real home.

As we arrived in Lakeshore, before dark, following the familiar road, we were greeted with the welcoming white steeple setting by the roadside, which had been one of just a very few remains of the Lakeshore Baptist Church after the storm. Ever since the steeple was recovered and erected by the road to identify the church’s location, Lakeshore Baptist Church Steeple it has continued to welcome the hundreds of folks from the community with an offer of assistance for daily necessities and help for rebuilding. Hundreds of volunteers, from all parts of the nation, come there for a few days or a week at a time to share their love of Jesus and their many skills and strengths in whatever project they are assigned.

Houses in Lakeshore get built with hard work as team after team after team pick up where the last group left off. We have about 25 projects going right now. One of the projects focuses on rebuilding Vic and Tammy Geauthreaux’s house. Shortly after the storm, I posted a picture of Vic and I, in front of where his house used to sit and the tent he lived in for weeks until FEMA issued him a camper. They relocated further inland and I’m excited to begin working on their new home.

Several teams have created great videos of their work in Lakeshore or to promote their upcoming trips. We post several of them from time to time on the site. For easy access, I’ve just created a special category for them and a link in the sidebar. Enjoy.

(Pictured above, from the left and sitting around the table clockwise: Me, Kristy, Joel, Andrew, Doug, and the back of Jamie’s head.)

Even before August 29, 2005 God began assembling a team to work in Lakeshore during the summer of 2007. Out of the overwhelming gracious flood of resources, aid, and assistance God continues to pour into our community, in the wake of hurricane Katrina, the most valuable have been the willing hearts of his people who come work along side of us in the relief, recovery and rebuilding efforts.

In addition to the countless volunteer teams that come week after week, I think of some of our own church members like James, Bea, Lynn, and others who serve as full time volunteers in the work. JoEll, who used to be the church pianist, now serves as my administrative assistant. I praise God for folks like Greg London, from Georgia, who came to Lakeshore just days after the storm and continues to work with us selflessly for the glory of God. Jamie, from Wisconsin, has now worked with us for over a year. I don’t think I could have made it this far without the sustaining grace of God that he surrounds me with in the form of these fellow believers and co-laborers in the faith and work.

Our full summer schedule, with nearly 2000 volunteers heading to the gulf coast in the next few months, calls for an even wider leadership team. God, in his providence has sent us a crew of young energetic leaders to help oversee and implement the work along with us.

If you have not book marked it yet, don’t forget to check out Jamie’s blog, Because of grace. Joel also keeps a great blog dubbed Joel’s Journeys. With this crew, it looks to be a interesting, labor-intensive, work-accomplishing, self-sacrificing, joy-filled, Christ-exalting, hot summer to the glory of God.

As part of our warehouse replacement plan, volunteers this week have been removing items from the gym and moving them to the big tent and other storage locations. The team from Maryland has been making great progress in erecting the 30X60 building. It should be complete by the end of the week and ready to move in. As one of the ladies on their team said, the builders have been “sweating like piggies and working like dogs.” We praise God for all the hard work put in this week.

A couple of weeks ago I detailed our warehouse replacement plans. One component involved the erection of a big event tent. We could not find an asphalt company willing to pour a pad for at least another three months, so instead of placing the tent on the newly required off-site property, we put the tent up here on the church grounds on what we affectionately call the “New Tent City.” this temporary storage area will give us room while we seek more permanent options.